Disclosure of documents ordered for employee unconnected with case:
In Beck v Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce UKEAT/0064/09, a race discrimination claim, the EAT ordered the disclosure of documents relating to the grievance of an employee who was not involved in the case. The claimant, a non-Canadian, had obtained an extract of the documents in which a senior figure within the Respondent admitted that non-Canadians were treated differently from Canadians in the context of a redundancy exercise. The EAT said that this was effectively a "smoking gun", in that it supported the claimant's case, and was influenced by the fact that it was dealing with a discrimination claim. Since it is rare to find direct evidence of discrimination in paper form, making it more difficult to prove, documents that show a culture of discrimination are clearly relevant.
This is not a new principle of law but is a good example of the limits of the disclosure exercise. Employers may not realise that certain documents, while unhelpful, may be relevant unless or until they are made aware of them. In this case, the EAT was not concerned with the way in which the claimant obtained the material, and stated that if there were concerns about the confidential nature of the documents, any names could be redacted.
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